Pharma-Docs Nexus Deprives Poor of Low-cost Medicine: Medkart

(Attn.editors: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same). Pharma-Docs Nexus Deprives Poor of Low-cost Medicine: Medkart

AHMEDABAD, India, July 20, 2016/PRNewswire/ -- The unholy nexus between drug makers and doctors to prevent affordable generic medicines from reaching the poor is a blatant violation of Medical Council of India (MCI) s directives and also against the Constitution, which guarantees every citizen their right to access quality, safe and affordable medicines.

According to an MCI notification, all registered medical professionals in India should write the generic or chemical names of drugs in their prescriptions and not the brand names. But how many doctors in our neighbourhood follow this practice religiously?

"Medical practitioners, who are supposed to serve patients interests, are unfortunately aiding to fill the coffers of pharmaceutical companies who swamp their clinics and make doctors prescribe their costly drugs to gullible patients, denying them the cheaper generic alternatives. This leaves no-medicine for the poor who cant afford to buy branded drugs from chemists, who seldom keep generics owing to low demand and unprofitable margin," says Ankur Agarwal, CEO of Medkart Pharmacy, which offers life-saving generic medicines to the needy through physical and online outlets.

"The exorbitant prices of branded medicines and non-availability of affordable generic alternatives force poor patients to go without medicines, thereby risking their lives.

The vicious cycle continues to haunt them every time they fall sick, as in India a good 26 per cent go below poverty line in every hospitalization," says Ankur. MORE PRNewswire PS

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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